Saturday, July 31, 2010

St. Anne's Feast... With A Vow This Year...

It has been two years since I last attended the last St. Anne's Feast or Sandanamma Tiruvela. Since I left Peninsular Malaysia for Kota Kinabalu to do my foundation programme, it is impossible to come back every end of July to attend the feast. Going on pilgrimage there every year has been a tradition in my family. The celebration is held at the famous Roman Catholic St. Anne's Church in Bukit Mertajam, which is located on mainland Penang.

When I mean my family, I mean my WHOLE family. This includes my dad, brother, sister, two uncles, three aunties and three cousins! Sadly, mom could not make the pilgrimage because she went to Ipoh that morning on official business and came home exhausted. Another aunt cannot walk for long hours as she gets tired easily. Another cousin also could not make it as she had mild fever. Grandma too did not come for she is too old to walk for hours. Three cars made the journey from Taiping to Bukit Mertajam.

The actual date of St. Anne's Feast falls on the 26th of July. But the celebration is so grand that it attracts pilgrims from all over Malaysia and some neighbouring countries like Thailand and Singapore, that it usually extends up to ten days.

We reached Jalan Kulim, which is the street where the church is located at around five in the afternoon, very much earlier than we usually do. We found ourselves nice parking loads. There was a huge number of pilgrims... and we tried to be clever by coming early to avoid the huge crowd. Hahaha...

Huge crowd.... Pilgrims from many different faiths come together to get Sandanamma's blessings on her feast day...

Since many pilgrims are Hindus, there are stalls outside the church which sell idols and pictures of Hindu deities alongside that of Christian saints and crucifixes.

Sorry for the low quality pictures... had to use my camera phone since my camera was out of battery. Maybe a sign from God that I should concentrate more on praying than photographing....

The wordings on the walls of the new church greets pilgrims...

Some of the unique features of the Sanctuary include the striking maroon-cloured Minagngkabau roots, rich mosaic murals, Gothic arches and beautiful idols.

Some of these idols of Jesus and the Virgin Mary depicting his last few hours before being crucified. They are called Statues of the Passion and were newly built in 2006.

St. Anne's Feast - Supposedly one of the 20 top Catholic gatherings in the world... and with a crowd like this, one can see why.

The famous candlelight procession which is the highlight of the celebration... and thousands of pilgrims were already in line!

The new church can be seen clearly on the way up the stairs to the old church...

Many devotees and church committee members line the streets heading towards the old church to collect alms that will be then donated to the poor...

Super crowded on the stairway...

The huge crowd viewed from above the old church...

One can hardly move once inside the old church... but the candlelight procession continues...

The altar filled with flower bouquets given as offerings by pilgrims and devotees.

The idol of St. Anne with the child Virgin Mary, beautifully decorated with flower garlands brought by pilgrims...

The other idol of Sandanamma

Another idol in the old church.

The Ten Commandments chalked on a huge rock right outside the old church, at the foot of

St. Anne's Hill.

The view of the old church from St. Anne's Hill

The newly built altar with the idols of St. Anne and the Virgin Mary on top of St. Anne's Hill.

A close-up of the idols.

This year, free food was provided for pilgrims. My family and I had some delicious vegetarian food provided by a group of Indian devotees - it was like going to a Hindu temple, where free vegetarian Indian food is served at the end an important prayer festival!

These Chinese devotees were serving Char Koey Teow! Knowing that we Hindus don't eat beef and pork, they explained to us that they don't and coaxed us to have some noodles! How nice of them!!

Hundreds of thousands of Catholic pilgrims flood into Dataran St. Anne to join in the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament by the bishop. If you look closely, you will see the huge LCD screen...

I came with a vow this year - to be safe and happy in a foreign land. I am confident that the good Mother had heard my prayer. Hopefully I'll be back again next year since it will be summer break in England, and this time with my whole family, just so the journey will be more fulfilling. We came home to Taiping way pass midnight. Apart from feeling tired, there was a certain satisfaction in my hear... one that I had not felt for the pass two years.

To feel close to Sandanamma and pouring out all your sorrows to Her as you approach Her idol with your candlelight, I had almost forgotten how good it felt....

Aum...

P/s: The Diocese of Penang, for which St. Anne's Church is a part of, is organizing a campaign to raise fund to help the poor. Here is the link for those who would like to lend a helping hand...